Nice discussion. I like validate() method because it can give access to ActionError objects, so one can easily produce internationalized error messages and forward back to input page, and IMHO that`s a useful feature. Just my 2 cents anyway;-)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Parker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 12:35 PM Subject: Re: where should validation happen? > >From my experience there are some subtle details when using the validate() > method of the form bean... > The validate method is called unless you set the validate attribute in the > struts config to false. > If an error is found by your validate method, struts seems to delegate back > to the input (jsp) as specified in the config, hence your action handlers > perform method is not called. > My preference is to perform basic field/type validation in the browser using > javascript, and business type validation I handle via beans called from my > action handler class. > Letting struts call the validate() method for me has given me problems - as > I often have my action handlers populate say collections of lookup values > for selection lists etc. Hence if struts does not call my perform method, my > selection lists will be empty. Note I discovered this after I had designed > my action handlers this way... > regards > Rob
